Boise’s Road Rage Made Us 2nd Most Deadly Rush Hour

Clearly more people need to blast 10 in a row new country on 104.3 when they are in traffic. Wowza, this is not a list I like us being on the top of. About three weeks ago I shared another study from FleetLogging that had Boise's rush hour traffic the worst in the US, based off their criteria. As someone who lived in Portland Oregon for years, where for me an hour and a half commute each way wasn't abnormal, I was skeptical. However this new study is worse than just taking the longest to get anywhere. It is about the chances you will actually get to where you are going.

AutoInsuranceEZ has a free online resource and does traffic and auto related studies often. This one caught my attention. The study, 10 Worst Cities for Rush Hour Fatal Crashes (2021) puts Boise at second place in the country for most fatalities on the roads during rush hour traffic. Something to note though, the article clearly shows updated 2021 however it looks like the number of crashes used in the study correlate to data from 2019. I know it takes time to get data like that so it may be the most recent available but with the city booming the way it has been the last couple of years I am curious if the numbers would reflect better or worse for 2020. Who won the top spot that no city wants? Seattle. The rainy city had 35 percent of its fatal crashes happen during the high-traffic rush hour time frames.

Here is the break down of how Auto Insurance EZ got there. They took the top 30 cities known for traffic around the US and broke down out of the total fatal auto accidents, how many of them happened during rush hour times. They then broke down the top 10 cities in more detail.

1. Seattle, Washington
Total Fatal Crashes in 2019: 23
Total Rush Hour Fatal Crashes: 8
Rush Hour Fatal Crashes Portion of Total: 34.8%

2. Boise, Idaho
Total Fatal Crashes in 2019: 7
Total Rush Hour Fatal Crashes: 2
Rush Hour Fatal Crashes Portion of Total: 28.6%
From the study, "The percentage of Boise's fatal crashes that occurred during rush hour was 28.6 in 2019, a little more than 14 percent higher than the average for all of our cities. Analyzing the rush hour fatal crashes a little bit closer, both rush hour fatal crashes in Boise occurred during the evening rush hour. Morning rush hours raise traffic congestion by 28 percent, while evening rush hours raise traffic congestion by 45 percent."

3. Baton Rouge, Louisiana
Total Fatal Crashes in 2019: 40
Total Rush Hour Fatal Crashes: 10
Rush Hour Fatal Crashes Portion of Total: 25%

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4. New York City, New York
Total Fatal Crashes in 2019: 208
Total Rush Hour Fatal Crashes: 48
Rush Hour Fatal Crashes Portion of Total: 23.1%

5. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Total Fatal Crashes in 2019: 23
Total Rush Hour Fatal Crashes: 5
Rush Hour Fatal Crashes Portion of Total: 21.7%

6. (Tie) San Francisco, California
Total Fatal Crashes in 2019: 34
Total Rush Hour Fatal Crashes: 7
Rush Hour Fatal Crashes Portion of Total: 20.6%

6. (Tie) Riverside, California
Total Fatal Crashes in 2019: 34
Total Rush Hour Fatal Crashes: 7
Rush Hour Fatal Crashes Portion of Total: 20.6%

8. Portland, Oregon
Total Fatal Crashes in 2019: 46
Total Rush Hour Fatal Crashes: 9
Rush Hour Fatal Crashes Portion of Total: 19.6%

9. San Jose, California
Total Fatal Crashes in 2019: 73
Total Rush Hour Fatal Crashes: 14
Rush Hour Fatal Crashes Portion of Total: 19.2%

10. Tampa, Florida
Total Fatal Crashes in 2019: 60
Total Rush Hour Fatal Crashes: 11
Rush Hour Fatal Crashes Portion of Total: 18.3%